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There are two citizen service points in Sonkajärvi: one in the office block of the municipality (Rutakontie 28), another in the village centre of Sukeva (Sukevantie 22). In addition to the municipal services, the citizen service takes care of the customer service of the Social Insurance Institution (Kela) in Sonkajärvi and sells train tickets of VR (State Railways) and tickets of the bus company Matkahuolto.

Housing

Sonkajärvi fills the needs of the modern man. An own health centre, children’s day care, libraries, fast network connections and good traffic routes are in a package with a lively, creative, and safe countryside where humane values are in high value.

The supply of different land lots is comprehensive and includes a range of close to nature holdings. The dwelling stock of Sonkajärvi consists mainly of one-family houses and terraced houses. It is possible to combine the freedom from care and ease of a rental flat with the space of a terraced house.

The council estates are managed and distributed by the publicly owned company, Sonkakoti Oy. Sonkakoti Oy takes also care of the other municipal services regarding housing. It looks after the most common subsidies, loans and grants for building, renovating and living and gives general guidance and advice.

Sonkakoti Oy owns 306 rental flats, 75 per cents of which are in terraced houses, in Sonkajärvi and Sukeva. The size of the flats ranges from small one-room flats to spacious four-room flats in semi-detached houses.

In the recent years Sonkajärvi has invested assertively in holiday housing. Over 900 hundred holiday homes and several hundred lakeside land lots in the development plans of the municipality are a result of this work. There are several rental cottages in the municipality as well.

Health and Social Care

The joint municipal authority SOTE has taken care of the health and social services of Sonkajärvi since 2010 and is consequently in charge of the health centre of the municipality. The municipality co-operates with several private companies and non-profit organisations in order to produce the social services not accounted for by the joint municipal authority.

The new library building was completed in 1993. It houses, in addition to a broad collection, exhibition and meeting rooms and rooms meant for different hobby circles and the community college that operates mainly in the premises of the library.

There is a library in Sukeva as well.

Library of Sonkajärvi, Rutakontie 21, 74300 Sonkajärvi

Archives Management

The central archive of the municipality contains the archives of both the functioning and decommissioned bodies of the local government as regulated by the Archives Act. The purpose of the archives management is to ensure the preservation and availability of records, to determine the archival value of the records and to dispose the unnecessary or private material after its retention time. Public documents and records are, in principle, freely accessible under the surveillance of the archivist. Any documents containing information of private nature can, however, be seen only by the person whom the aforementioned information concerns. The retention period for these documents is 50 years.

The home district archive preserves and catalogues private, often endangered documents and works to preserve cultural and material heritage of the municipality. The records of small and disbanded societies, co-operatives, enterprises, families and private persons are of special interest and the archives management works to collect them for purposes of research, study and education. The home district archive is freely accessible unless the provider of the documents or the Act on the Openness of Government decrees otherwise.

Education

There are two comprehensive schools in Sonkajärvi. Grades 1–6 are taught in Sonkajärvi and Sukeva, Grades 7–9 only in Sonkajärvi. The upper secondary school shares its premises with the upper level comprehensive school and the co-operation between the schools is extensive. Small groups, competent and qualified teachers and the use of the modern technology have ensured good learning results.

The community college of Sonkajärvi organises different hobby and study circles for grown-ups, children and the youth.

The municipality maintains a kindergarten in Sonkajärvi and Sukeva and organises day care in private families as well.

Maps and Spatial Information

The map and geoinformation service of Upper Savonia contains aerial photographs and base and guide maps of Iisalmi, Kiuruvesi, Sonkajärvi and Vieremä. Please note that the available material can vary depending on the data provided by the different municipalities.

During the last ten years the municipality has built a new and modern sports hall and an ice hall. The beach, diving tower and volleyball court in Kangaslampi have been renovated in the recent years and are in excellent condition. The ski tracks maintained by the municipality are located mainly in Kangaslampi as well. There are tens of kilometres of ski tracks in diverse landscape. Several kilometres of the ski tracks are lit.

A list of all of the sports facilities and fields maintained by the municipality can be found here. Timetables of the gym and the sports are on the same site.